US commits to providing 'military support' to Syrian rebels

The Obama administration has acknowledged for the first time that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons against the Syrian people. It means the 'red line' laid out by the US president Barack Obama has officially been crossed and the White House says America will be providing new 'military support' to opposition fighters.

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PETER LLOYD: Could it be a game changer in the Syrian conflict?

The Obama administration has acknowledged for the first time that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons against the Syrian people.

It means the "red line" laid out by the US president Barack Obama has officially been crossed, and the White House says America will be providing new "military support" to opposition fighters.

North America correspondent Jane Cowan.

JANE COWAN: It's the same conclusion many of America's allies reached months ago.

The White House made the announcement in a statement released by the deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

He says after several months of investigation, the intelligence community's assessment is that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons including the nerve agent sarin.

Ben Rhodes says the use has been small scale, but an estimated 100 to 150 people have been killed.

The administration also says there is "no reliable, corroborated reporting to indicate the opposition has acquired or used chemical weapons".

The assessment's been supported by laboratory analysis of physiological samples taken from several individuals revealing exposure to sarin.

Hawkish Republicans like Lindsey Graham wasted no time in taking to the Senate floor.

LINDSEY GRAHAM: Mr president, you chose wisely today to get involved. We support you. But the goal is not to help the rebels; the goal is to end the war before chemical weapons can be used against us and we lose the King of Jordan and the entire Mid East goes up in flames.

JANE COWAN: The Obama administration says the high degree of confidence that chemical weapons have been used "changes the calculus" but it's being vague about what that means.

Senior administration officials are telling reporters no decision on a no-fly zone has been made.

But that's exactly what the Republican senator John McCain wants.

JOHN MCCAIN: I think it's obvious that they will be providing weapons, they need a no fly zone. And I would say, there are military officials in the Pentagon who will say you can't do it and you have to have total mobilisation of every single reserve in the world and the United States and it's so hard, well we spend tens of billions of dollars a year on defence and if our military can't establish a no fly zone, then by God, American taxpayer dollars have been terribly wasted.

JANE COWAN: With the memory of the Iraq war and mistaken claims of weapons of mass destruction fresh in the psyche of a war weary nation, the Obama administration has been reluctant to intervene in Syria.

But increasingly, the fear is that the violence inside its borders could spread into an all out regional conflict.

The retired four star General Wesley Clark once served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander.

WESLEY CLARK: In this case, arming the rebels with RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades) and mortars and so forth is probably not going to be significant. We're in a full scale, or starting to move toward a full scale proxy war with Iran here. Iran's engaged, they've got people in there. Hezbollah is fighting hard, and the Bashar al-Assad regime is willing to use chemical weapons.

They simply don't want to lose.

So I think if the administration now hands concluded, as they have, that chemical weapons have indeed been used, I think is more than just a red line, it also gives us greater diplomatic throw weight in the United Nations.

We need to go back to the Russians and Chinese. We need to say to them, look, we are going to provide more active assistance, and there's not necessarily a stopping point once we start this. So we're in for tit-for-tat escalation once this starts to go.

JANE COWAN: Barack Obama has previously made it clear there will be no US troops on the ground in Syria.